EBS Electronik Banking Systems GmbH has been formed in Wiesbaden, Germany to challenge the Mondex Smart Card electronic purse with its own P-Card. The card can be recharged with money at retail outlets and, from mid-1996, at public telephone booths. It looks for 500,000 cards to be issued this year with 4,000 to 5,000 stores joining the scheme: insurer Wertgarantie AG plans to supply its 300,000 policyholders with the card. But where there is no charge for crediting the card, the card itself costs $10, and retailers will pay a flat 20 cents per transaction with a special low rate of 4 cents per transaction for things that cost under $6.60.
